Electronic components, and, more particularly, integrated circuits, are typically attached to circuit boards by plugging them into sockets that are bonded to the board. One method for bonding the sockets to the board is to use the wire-wrap method. On wire-wrap circuit boards, the socket has wire-wrap pins that extend through holes in the board and protrude out the other side. These pins have a square-shaped cross section and are eventually wrapped with electrically conductive wire. The wire is strung between the pins to connect them electrically and thus form circuits. Prior to the wire-wrap operation, a connector clip, such as the well-known "Z" clips (manufactured by the Zero Corporation, located in Burbank, California), are pushed down over selected pins, seated against the circuit board, and soldered to a ground strip or power strip which is integrally formed on the board's surface to create a conductive path to power or ground.
Although this method has served its purpose, it has several disadvantages. First, a substantial amount of manual labor at great expense is required to assemble the electronic components on a circuit board. In addition, hand soldering is not as reliable as automated soldering because operator technique can vary, and without proper heat control a soldered joint will easily fail. Finally, the number of manual steps required to solder each pin makes the process very slow, rendering the hand construction method incompatible with the faster automated manufacturing processes.